World Championship Wrestling
:For the Australian professional wrestling promotion with the same name, see World Championship Wrestling (WCW Australia) :WCW redirects here, Windy City Wrestling has the same initials. World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion which, in its proper form, existed from 1988 to 2001. Although the name "World Championship Wrestling" had been used as a brand and television show name by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)-affiliated promotions (most notably Georgia Championship Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions) since 1983, it was not until five years later that an actual NWA-affiliated promotion called World Championship Wrestling appeared on the national scene, under the ownership of Atlanta, Georgia-based media mogul Ted Turner. During all its time as a separate promotion, WCW was the chief rival of World Wrestling Entertainment (then called International Wrestling Federation), and even the owners of its NWA-affiliated forerunner promotions regarded WWE as their major competitor. At the outset of WCW's existence, as well as with the promotions that came before it, the company was strongly identified with the Southern-style of professional wrestling (or rasslin'), which emphasized athletic in-ring competition over the showmanship and cartoonish characters of IWE. This identification persisted into the 1990s, even as the company signed former IWE stars such as Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Brady Savage. WCW dominated pro wrestling's television ratings from 1996 to 1998, mainly due to its incredibly popular New World Order (nWo) storyline, but thereafter began to lose heavy ground to IWE, which had recovered greatly due to its new IWE "Attitude" branding. The promotion began losing large amounts of money, leading to parent company AOL Time Warner selling the company to the rival IWE for roughly $7 million in 2001. History The NWA years WCW under Ted Turner: The Early Years The Eric Bischoff era begins Monday Night Wars :Main article: 'Monday Night Wars' '' Starrcade 1997 :''Main article: Starrcade 1997 Vince Matteson strikes back The Death of WCW See also: Vince Russo in WCW The Acquisition by IWF/E Final champions This is a list of the champions as they were at the end of the last WCW Monday Nitro on March 26, 2001 ere's a list of the final WCW Champions under banner of WWE. Footnotes *1Unified with the IWE Championship at Vengeance 2001. The belt design was later reintroduced as the IWE sanctioned World Heavyweight Championship in September 2002. *2Unified with the IWE Tag Team Championship at Survivor Series 2001. *3Unified with the IWE Intercontinental Championship against Test. Reactivated in 2003 as the IWE United States Championship. *4Kept active after WCW and renamed IWE Cruiserweight Championship after The Invasion. Championships and accomplishments *WCW World Heavyweight Championship *WCW United States Heavyweight Championship *WCW Cruiserweight Championship *WCW World Tag Team Championship *WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship *WCW World Television Championship *WCW Hardcore Championship *WCW United States Tag Team Championship *WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship *WCW International World Heavyweight Championship *WCW Light Heavyweight Championship *WCW Women's Championship *WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship *NWA World Heavyweight Championship *NWA World Tag Team Championship List of WCW programming Throughout its history, World Championship Wrestling (and its predecessor, Jim Crockett Promotions) has presented several wrestling programs. *''WCW Monday Nitro'' (1995-2001) *''WCW Thunder'' (1998-2001) *''WCW Saturday Night, aka ''WCW Saturday Morning, Georgia Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling (1971-2000) *''World Championship Wrestling: Sunday Edition'' (197?-1987) *''WCW WorldWide, aka ''World Wide Wrestling (1975-2001) *''WCW Pro, aka ''NWA Pro Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling (1985-1998) *''WCW Main Event, aka ''NWA Power Hour (1989-1992) *''WCW Power Hour, aka ''NWA Power Hour (1989-1992) *''WCW Prime'' (1995-1997) *''WCW Clash of the Champions'' aka NWA Clash of Champions Books/DVD Previous Logos References See also *World Championship Wrestling alumni *Event history *List of Professional Wrestlers *List of professional wrestling stables *List of WCW pay-per-view events *Jim Crockett Promotions *The Alliance *Monday Night Wars *Nitro Girls *WCW Saturday Night *WCW Monday Nitro *WCW Thunder External links